And returning back to the original topic of the blog… Got a bit carried away with Impetus. As mentioned earlier, I have started to prepare second part of Signal Close Action Kriegspiel. This time both sides have small fleet, and as usual, neither side has perfect knowledge of the dispositions of opponent. In fact, only one who has any say about the initial fleet dispositions and ships overall performance is the commander of the fleet.

During last game, it was simple single ship action, where goal was to win opponent in honest duel. This time around, command structure plays a major part and fleet commanders are not obliged to micromanage the ships but to direct the fleet action – and when need rises, interfere in the running of their own ship. In practical terms it means that players may give commands in queue and expect report back only when defined waypoint or trigger is reached (could be enemy fleet changing course for X points, own fleet reaching certain distance, or position in relation to opponent). These keys are freely for players to decide. Ships crews are expected to perform lower level duties and tasks under subordinate commands.

Additionally, fleet commanders orders are to be obeyed accurately when received, either by player controlling the ship, or by umpire.

So, for this experiment, to represent the command challenges:

– Ships orders can be queued up, and umpire will attempt to execute them in convenient order. Any orders that are queued up, are attempted to be executed in order they are written. Queue can be of any length.

– Ships movements are controlled by giving desired heading, distance and desired sail state. If there are no event triggers that interrupt move, umpire will return to the players when waypoint is reached. Players may also state that they wish X turns to pass forward before being notified.

Example of order would be: (ship starting with heading North, Full Sails). Order: Sail to NorthEast, Easy Sails, 1/4 Nm. Beat to quarters, lower boats and wet sails.Trigger: Enemy fleet changes course for more than one point either in succession, or together.

– Flag signals to other ships in the squadron, or fleet will follow signal book. Signals that are not valid, are not sent and previous orders are followed by the fleet.

So, if you wish to take part, please make your intent known in the comments. Please note that some ideas may change in the course of game, since this is an experiment after all.